Since your new to game programming in general, the standard edition should work just fine for you. Your going to have to learn a lot of basic skills if you aren't well versed in C++ to begin with. If you have no programming experiance with C or C++, you should definatly buy the standard edition and start making some console(DOS) programs and some windows programs to get a feel for the language before you delve into games. I have the pro edition and so do the guys I work on my game with, but im sure the standard edition is just as good for game making, especially beginner games.

Good Luck
Mike Barela

I know there are a few versions of visual c++: Standard, professional, enterprise and academic-for all three. I was thinking of getting the standard edition for game programming.. Is this a good choice.. or choose another... I'm a beginner in programming and mainly want to dabble in game programming... nothing else is of interest at this moment... thanx